Obtainium is everywhere. People throw stuff out that’s perfectly usable. Often it’s there, on the street, waiting to be picked up for free by anyone who can see the potential.
Obtainium is environmentally justified. It conforms absolutely with the environmental mantra to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Creating obtainium is a moral good. The Bible — Leviticus 19:9-11 — approves.
“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not pick your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger.”
One day I noticed that someone was throwing out a large number of kitchen cabinets. Big, bulky, ugly, brown cabinets. Cabinets that had been outside for some time.
These cabinets were not in great shape. They had odd holes here and there where utility connections had run. The tops were made out of industrial plywood with rough surfaces. There were nails sticking out. But the cabinets were fundamentally solid.
They were made out of real wood. If you bought them new each piece would cost a great deal of money. Installation would be extra – and expensive.
Permission Please
I spoke with the property owner, asked for permission to take three of them. He agreed, no charge. There was simply less for him to have hauled away. Next, for $75, I hired a guy with a trailer to bring them home.
My thought was that the new cabinets — properly restored — would replace the ancient, rotting cabinets now in our garage. The old ones were an eyesore. The wood had swelled so that the drawers did not move. Since they were not real wood, layers were peeling off. Also, shelving along one wall needed to go. It was in bad shape. Then, to fix up, I “just” had to put in the new cabinets; paint the walls, ceiling, and floor; and the garage would suddenly be spacious, usable, attractive, and an asset that increases the value of the house.
Step 1. Remove old cabinets and shelving. Unfortunately, the old cabinets and shelves were firmly nailed to the walls. Removing them required a heavy crowbar. The first pile of cabinets and garage junk was picked-up during the Mayor’s special, once-a-year, garbage collection for bulk items. There’s no charge.
Plumbing
Step 2. Remove the old plumbing and 15-foot dryer vent. The vent was replaced with 4” drain pipe from the Habitat For Humanity’s local ReStore outlet. The replacement pipe was painted to look new and connected to a new external vent. A sink ($15) from the ReStore outlet was added.
Step 3. Restore the walls. The garage is 23′ x 25″ or 575 sq. ft. There is a lot of wall surface. But, with some patience, the walls were patched and painted.
Step 4. Fix the obtainium cabinets. Each new cabinet had to be made safe. Heavy nails sticking through the sides had to be removed with a crowbar or cut off with a grinder. The surfaces were patched and painted, and the drawer mechanics repaired.
Moving heavy obtainium
Step 5. The cabinets had to be moved into place. The old temporary tops were removed and the drawers were taken out to reduce weight. Still, the cabinets were too heavy to move by hand. This meant dollies had to be placed under each one. The only practical way to do this was to use a car jack to raise the cabinets enough so dollies could be slid underneath, one at each end. Once off the floor, each cabinet could be painted and then pushed into place.
Step 6. A smaller restored cabinet became the new utility sink and laundry-area cabinet. An area in the back of the cabinet was cut out so the dryer vent can run outside the house while the cabinet is flush with a back wall. A sink was added. The floor was painted gray.
Step 7. The two larger cabinets had to be repaired. This meant nails were removed, drawer mounts were repaired, and holes were fixed. New supporting wood was added, made from thick moldings that someone had left on the street… The cabinets were then painted and moved into place. Tops were added, and everything was adjusted with shims to be level and even. The walls were repaired and painted. The floor painting was started.
In the end
The long cabinet is now a shop bench. Various tools are inside, it’s wired for electricity, and there’s a vice at the end. It’s about 16 feet long. The big door is actually from still-another cabinet, pulled from the pile left on the street. To make it work the opening behind it had to be made smaller, a nifty trick made possible with the addition of wooden pieces cut to size.
Oh, and where did the green color come from? It was a color at the hardware store I thought would brighten the garage, a good contrast with the white walls, but once the cabinets were done I realized I had seen it before on a small bridge at Monet’s home in Giverny.
Two and a half walls are done, the cabinets are in place, plus the electricians and plumbers are finished. Most of a third wall is next as well as painting the rest of the floor and ceiling. The fourth wall is largely the garage door.
The other half of the wreckage was hauled from the garage with a special pick-up. The fee was $15. And, if someone saw something useful in the pile and wanted to take it before the big city truck came along, that’s okay with me. After all, the first rule of the obtainium culture is to help the next person.
The post Obtainium for Fun & Profit appeared first on OurBroker.com.